


cute thing

by cryptozoid



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/F, First Kiss, Gay Feelings, Pining, Tender conversations in the backseat of a 1980s station wagon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-24
Updated: 2019-07-24
Packaged: 2020-07-12 18:40:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,973
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19950991
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cryptozoid/pseuds/cryptozoid
Summary: "It really was random, this whole situation. The phone rang at 11pm. “You’re the only girl in my age range that I’ve spoken to more than once in the last six months. Can we talk? I’ll buy you a slurpee. I’m on my way.” "robin never had many female friends. her anxiety and internalized shame about her attraction to girls led her to avoid forming anything real entirely. she'd never been good at getting out of her own head.neither had nancy wheeler.





	cute thing

**Author's Note:**

> 2019 is the year of bisexual nancy wheeler
> 
> also thank u to my buddies @beegum and @lesbianrellie for help on this!! ily <3

“I don’t understand how you drink that strawberry shit.”

“Hey, don’t bite the hand that feeds you!”

“You have a point, it’s not every night Nancy Wheeler calls you up and offers you a free slurpee, in exchange for girltalk.”

Robin leaned against the shelves behind her, knocking over a few bags of chips as she did. She sucked sweet sweet sugar on ice. It really was random, this whole situation. The phone rang at 11pm. _“You’re the only girl in my age range that I’ve spoken to more than once in the last six months. Can we talk? I’ll buy you a slurpee. I’m on my way.”_

That was something Robin could relate to. She hadn’t been able to keep a friendship with another girl since the 6th grade. That was when she first realized why she couldn’t help but stare at the beautiful blue eyes of the girl next to her in history class. Then, when those blue eyes started staring at boys instead of back at her. Wondering why she couldn’t stare like them, and be noticed like them. When it became apparent to her that, _shit_ , she just really wanted to kiss her, she couldn’t let another soul find out. Which was easy to hide, seeing as her only friends were a bunch of nerdy dudes who cared more about her opinion on Star Wars deep lore than Ralph Maccio’s biceps. Finding another girl to relate on that was one thing. That girl being Nancy Wheeler raised a whole lot more questions.

“I guess I’m just not a regular kinda girl.” Nancy smiled at her, shrugging her shoulders. Robin raised her eyebrows, taking another loud sip while thinking through the movie-like scenario she’d found herself in. _That might actually be true, Miss Priss, you continue to surprise me_. Some slurpee spilled on the floor. Nancy Wheeler was struggling to fit the cap on her incredibly full slurpee cup. Robin laughed. Nancy laughed back. Nancy Wheeler with that beautiful smile. Fuck. 

“What’s up, anyways? Did you finally get your period?” Robin poked her straw towards her. She had to keep talking. Talking distracts the deep, gay thoughts. Nancy’s eyes evaded hers, rolling as they looked towards the door.

“I don’t wanna talk here, can we go somewhere private?

~

Robin suggested Weathertop. Nancy wanted somewhere quiet to drink her slurpee and get stuff off her chest. Quiet, preferably with a view. Robin made sure Nancy didn’t attempt to drive to the top, having learned that the hard way with Steve. Cerebros stood tall behind them and Robin smiled as she looked at it in the rear view mirror. She missed that weird kid. 

Weathertop wasn’t the tallest point in Hawkins, but they had managed to find an overlook above the city. It was beautiful. The bright lights from the city all blended together mostly, but she could see for miles. Downtown was full of life, it was a Friday night after all. She tried not to focus on the huge chunk of darkness where Starcourt once stood. 

Shifting in her spot, she found her eyes darting from the view to Nancy, not wanting to stare. This was strange, being parked in an overlook was such a teenage romance thing. The type of stuff she’d see in the movies and then daydream about later, most likely to Wouldn’t It Be Nice by the Beach Boys, on her loneliest days. And now she was right here, it was happening. But with none of the romance. Definitely not, that wasn’t what was happening.

“Was it true what you said on the phone?” Robin broke the silence. Keep talking, don’t get stuck in your head.

“What?” Nancy opened her eyes, looking at her.

“Like, I’m the only girl you’ve talked to in months, in your age range at least. That stuff. I wouldn’t expect that from Nancy Wheeler.”

“Seems like there’s a lot you don’t expect from me.” Nancy laughed, ending it with a small sigh. “I haven’t had time for friends in a while, not with all this insanity going on, and now that it’s all over-” Nancy searched for the right words. “It’s hard to adjust, you know? Realizing that nothing is ever gonna be the same again. That nobody will really get it. Almost nobody.”

A gust of wind flew over the car. Robin once again stared into the city lights below. People, like ants, poured out of the movie theater. She couldn’t see what had just played, only the crowd as one big mass of color. Those were the only other people in sight. But, the only one clear to her right now was Nancy.

“I haven’t spoken to anyone about it, except Steve, since. I just can’t.”

“Exactly!” Nancy, her shoulders relaxing as she exhaled. “You just can’t. And all the normal things that occupy people, that should occupy me, all just feel like--”

“Bullshit?”

Nancy looked at her with a twinkle in her eyes.

“ _Total_ bullshit.”

The car engine hummed. They in silent understanding, a near giddy feeling from being able to speak so freely about things that had felt so taboo to the world around them. A soft feeling fell over Robin, clear by the red forming on her cheeks, a gentleness not unfamiliar to her. She was glad the darkness of the car masked it. She glanced over at Nancy. In the darkness, she could only really see the outline of Nancy’s body. A few details, her face was hidden. There wasn’t much to look at in their current situation. But god, Robin never really thought about how beautiful Nancy was before this moment. 

“So are you and Steve…?” Nancy’s words cut the tension in the air like a knife.

Robin laughed sharply. “Oh fuck no. Don’t get me wrong, I love him a lot. Not in that way, though. He’s the idiot brother I never had.” Shrugging, Robin offered, “It’s like you said, there’s almost nobody who understands. We’re really close, actually. Just not like that.”

Nancy bit the inside of her bottom lip, her fingers digging into the seat. There was something up.

“Jonathan was like that, for me. Except close like that. Well, we were close like that.”

“Were?”

That was it. Nancy opened her mouth to explain, but the only response her body could manage were tears rolling down her face. Robin was caught off guard, seeing her tears glint in the darkness. She watched Nancy as she began to cry softly next to her for a few moments, unmoving. Unable to help looking like a doofus, Robin knew she couldn’t stay frozen forever. Hesitantly, Robin wiped tears from below Nancy’s cheek. It was only until she felt Nancy lean her cheek against her hand, that she was brave enough to gingerly rub her thumb in circles. Those beautiful blue eyes of hers were looking up at Robin, who could feel her heart melting within her chest. All she wanted was to wrap her arms around Nancy, protect her. 

“We could, if you want we could move to the backseat? If you wanna be more comfortable, or something. I was just, I was thinking it might give us more room.”

Robin’s offer was met with a smile, and a nod. They both shuffled out of their car seats, shutting the door behind them. Robin slid into the backseat, watching as Nancy did as well. They were silent as, with some bravery unknown to her, Robin offered her arm around Nancy’s waist. Her eyes were wide as Nancy scooted closer to her, wrapping her arms around her shoulders. Nancy’s head rested gently underneath Robin’s chin. It was almost overwhelming, the thought of being touched by a girl in any romantic context was such a hopeless idea for her before. The intimacy was hitting her like a truck. Still, Robin couldn’t deny she was loving every second. One arm was kept firmly around Nancy’s waist, the other moving up to run through those brown curls that fell over Nancy’s face in all the right ways. 

She felt the hem of her shirt. It was wet. Fuck, Nancy was crying, right. Robin had almost forgotten all about that, but really she couldn’t blame herself for being distracted. Finally, Nancy spoke.

“We broke up, a month ago.” She sniffled against Robin’s tee shirt.

“Shit Nancy, I’m sorry.” Robin breathed, trying her best not to sound absolutely lame. This was new to her. “The last time I saw you guys you seemed so… fine?”

“That’s exactly it. The last time you saw us. That was that night.” They both shuddered. Right, of course. The night that brought them all together in the first place. “Things were rocky before, but it started to feel like the only times we really, truly worked well together is when everything else was gone to shit. He was there with me through everything, all the horrible monsters and violence and, well we worked through flashbacks together and coped together but-

Whenever things were calm, and everything seemed alright finally, we’d fight and fight and all of our incompatibilities just came bubbling to the top. It’s almost like I wished for more horror just to bring us back together.” Nancy exhaled a breath of relief. It was shaky. Robin could tell this isn't something she said out loud all the time. If ever.

“But you can’t build a relationship on just that.” Robin almost felt out of place for speaking up. She had never dated, never been in a relationship. But Nancy had looked up at her, listening. “It’s like- take me and Steve right? He’s my best friend, and we can be friends and have that shared shitshow of a trauma. But it only works so well because we’re friends. We don’t rely on each other for emotional support by default- like the pressure when you’re dating is. That’s why we’re not. I mean, among other things.”

“What other things?” Nancy sat up further. Her leg had found itself hooked over Robin’s, which Robin was painfully aware of. It didn’t seem like it was going to be moving anytime soon.

“Other things?”

“That last part. You said, you and Steve aren’t dating because of _other_ things.”

There was always a weird balance to it. The idea of being outed as gay in Hawkins was terrifying, it wracked her brain at the latest times of night and might even beat giant, interdimensional flesh monsters as her biggest fear. Then there was the discomfort of being known as a straight woman. Even through all the fear and worry surrounding her sexuality, Robin was fucking proud to love who she loved. So she kept it quiet, kept it vague, not thinking people would notice, but enough that people wouldn’t try to set her up with any guy friend of theirs. 

But she never expected to be facing that exactly like this. Nancy raised an eyebrow. Shit, she went silent for way too long. Robin bit the inside of her lip, exhaling softly. 

“Compatibility stuff. He’s not what I’m looking for, I guess.”

“Something different, like this?”

Nancy took her face between her hands and pressed a firm, determined kiss onto Robin’s lips. Her thumb gently stroked the side of her cheek as she exhaled into the touch. _Oh_ . Robin’s eyes widened momentarily, then fell shut as she relaxed. _Oh shit._ It was soft, and new. She opened her eyes, catching Nancy as she pulled away. Her face was red, but assured and confident.

“You’re- You too?” Her brain couldn’t process it. Nancy laughed, running her thumb across Robin’s bottom lip.

“You look really beautiful like this.”

They kissed again, Robin’s hand gingerly finding Nancy’s and taking it in her own.

Once again, nothing would ever be the same.

But for once, Robin was okay with that.

**Author's Note:**

> special thanks down here to carly rae jepsen for supporting this dumb gay bitch. i love you. also that meme that's like, what if we we kissed and we were the gay car seat headrest dogs. i love you too.


End file.
